Focus on the Lock.

It was a disaster the first time, so just go ahead and do it again!  One of the strangest stories in our history is the second set of spies that were sent into Israel, this time by Yehoshua (Joshua).  We all know about the first set of 12 spies that Moshe sent.  The Jewish people were in the desert preparing to capture and inherit the land of Israel, and they made a request of Moshe: "Let us send men ahead of us so that they will search out the land for us and bring us back word by which route we shall go up, and to which cities we shall come (Devarim 1:22) ."  Moshe agreed, and sent leaders of each tribe to go and scout the land.  On the long awaited day, the spies came back and gave their report to the people:  The land is good, but the people are strong and the cities are fortified. Forget it, we can’t succeed.  The people ignored all the miracles Hashem had performed for them, lost their faith and cried all night. Therefore, Hashem decreed that the people would spend 40 years in the desert while that entire adult generation died out, and only then would they be able to enter the land.

 

It is 39 years later, Moshe has passed away and Yehoshua is about to enter the land.  So what does he do?  He sends spies!  This time only two, and as the verse says he sent them quietly. They come back and give a completely different report.  As we read in the Haftorah this week (Joshua 2:24): And they said to Joshua, “For the Lord has delivered into our hands all the land; and also the inhabitants of the country have melted away because of us.” 

 

The question seems obvious: Yehoshua had seen first-hand the danger of sending spies, in fact he was there with them, and one of the two who took a different position supporting the move forward.  Why did he take the risk to do it again?  The other question we can ask is, why was the second expedition so much more successful than the first?

 

As in all of Torah learning, there are several levels with which to understand this subject, and I will address it on two levels, a practical explanation and a mystical one.  (Based on Chassidic commentary by Rabbi Shneur Ashkenazi.)  The verse in Joshua states (2:1): Joshua the son of Nun sent two men out of Shittim to spy secretly…  The Hebrew word for secretly is “cherish”.  The word “cheres” (same Hebrew spelling) also means earthenware, representing a lowly piece of pottery.  These spies were not great political leaders; they were not great influencers.  They were humble people who went to perform their duties as messengers of Yehoshua.  The first group had relied on their own opinion on the possibility of capturing the land, and therefore were affected by the strength and size of the people and their cities.  In their positions as leaders and influencers, they reported to all the people.  In addition, they did not just state what they saw, but also their opinion on the feasibility of entering the land.  Having seen the failure of the first attempt, Yehoshua carefully chose his spies and trained them well.  These two spies went “cheresh,” quietly and humbly, not doubting Hashem’s promise that they would easily capture the land, and knowing that their role was to gather information.  They had real conversations with the people, and then came back and reported privately to Yehoshua, simply stating what they had found. 

 

Then there is the mystical, Chassidic explanation, based on the fact that all of Torah is eternal and there is a direct personal message to each of us in this story.  One of the major differences between Moshe’s mission for the spies and Yehoshua’s was the scope of the mission.  Moshe sent the spies to scout out the entire land.  Yehoshua sent them only to Yericho (Jericho).  Our sages tell us that Yericho, the key fortified city at the edge of Israel, was the “lock” of Israel.  If Jericho was captured, then the whole land would follow.  Metaphorically speaking, capturing the land means taking control of our physical faculties.  We process things intellectually and emotionally - we think, we speak, we act.  We face a constant struggle between our soul, our divine spark, that wants to cleave to Hashem and act spiritually, and our animal drives that are focused only on ourselves.  How is a person able to win this battle, which is constant and is part of our mission on earth?  Moshe said to the spies: Go and scout the entire land in order for us to be able to capture it.  A person should strive to transform him or herself completely.  Take control of your intellect and your emotions, work to become a perfect person, and then you will do everything as you are supposed to.

 

Yehoshua took a different approach.  Realistically speaking, it is not possible for an ordinary person to completely control their emotions and their faculties.  However there is a way to successfully approach self-transformation even for someone who is not able to be in full control.  The “lock” of our faculties, the metaphorical Yericho, is our thought, speech and actions.  I had a guest this Shabbat, a therapist who works with victims of abuse and addictions, among other things.  He said something very interesting that ties in with this idea:  We can’t control the first thought, but we can control the second and where that takes us.  Torah teaches that the way to achieve inner strength is by doing good actions, because our minds and hearts follow our actions.  This has been counter-intuitive in the psychological world for a long time, but the attitudes are changing.  Yehoshua teaches us:  Don’t try to reach for the unrealistic goal of complete transformation at once.  Focus on controlling the thoughts.  If a negative thought enters your mind, don’t get too upset about it, start thinking of good and positive things.  You desire to say or do something negative, you can control that.  Focus on the lock, and the rest will slowly come along.